Bye-Bye PMS

If you're like most women, you know all too well the utter wrath of PMS... not just on your body, your emotions, or your eating habits, but also how it can affect those around you.

If you're a guy, it may be hard to understand why your wife or girlfriend suddenly seems to become possessed by the Devil every 28 days.

Special guest, Ashley Koff, RD, asks you to think about it this way, gentleman: if you had really bad (like, really bad) indigestion from a night at the ballgame or a night out with the boys, and you had to go through that many days in a row, each and every month... well, that's just a sample of what PMS entails.

In Ashley's experience as a dietician, even if women were doing the things they were supposed to do, such as keeping up with workouts, getting adequate sleep and eating right, that time of month would still affect them so intensely that taking those preventative steps didn't seem to matter much at all.

So, is there actually anything you can do to beat PMS and avoid the symptoms entirely?

Perhaps not entirely; but the key to getting on top of symptoms is to truly understand what's happening to your body throughout the days leading up to your period and beyond.

Your hormones are changing, yes; but the goal is not to stop them from changing, rather to wrap your head around what happens when they do.

One of the major things affected is your digestion, which may actually be a key underlying factor to ALL of your symptoms. For instance, you're craving bad food (carbs), you're bloated and gassy, you're fatigued... these can all be traced back to your digestion.

Even if you don't have any of those classic symptoms, but experience headaches and irritability, those too can stem from digestive disruption. 

To stay on top of these effects, you need to optimize your digestion.

There are three key "ingredients," so to speak, for doing this: digestive enzymes, B vitamins and magnesium.

Magnesium is Mother Nature's muscle relaxant, which can help tremendously with cramping, as well as with easing constipation and even lowering stress levels.

Digestive enzymes are like your digestive system's own personal assistant. On a normal day, they're helping break down foods even more than your natural digestive juices can. This is even more important when you're going through PMS cravings for high-carb or high-fat foods.

B Vitamins are really helpful for improving your mood, as well as your energy levels.

The trifecta of these three ingredients can go a long way in helping ease your PMS angst.

Even better? They are all natural compounds; things that were meant to go into your body.

Listen in as Ashley shares more information about why these three elements are so important for easing PMS, as well as specific tips for getting on top of your PMS symptoms.